The present invention relates to an air flow path switching device that is disposed on pipings between a blower that supplies air and units that need the air.
There is presently a growing demand for cut sheet printing double-side printing, and high-speed printing, and cut sheet printers accommodating such demand often employ a technique in which sheets are separated and forwarded using pressurized air to improve reliability in sheet feeding and forwarding.
The flow of a sheet in a cut sheet laser printer and its air system including an air flow path switching device will be outlined first with reference to FIG. 3.
Sheets are picked up on a single piece basis from a main hopper 1, and toner is transferred onto the sheet at a photosensitive drum 2 and fixed onto the sheet by a fixing unit 3. Printing on one surface of the sheet is now completed. To print on the back surface of the sheet, the sheet is forwarded to a switchback section 5 while inverted by an invertor section 4, and toner is then transferred onto the back surface of the sheet again by the photosensitive drum 2 and fixed by the fixing unit 3. Upon completion of the printing on both surfaces of the sheet, the sheet is forwarded to a stacker 6. The sheets are picked up not only from the main hopper 1 but also from an auxiliary hopper 7 as necessary, and printed in a similar process.
The main hopper 1 and the auxiliary hopper 7 serve to pick up sheets correctly on a single piece basis for the subsequent process of printing. Thus, air is blown to the front end portions of the sheets from a nozzle 8 so as to separate overlapping sheets, and the topmost sheet is thereafter picked up by sucking air from a chamber 9 through the pick belt 10. The switchback section 5 serves to pick up a single sheet correctly, the sheet being the bottommost sheet in the sheets that are inverted and temporarily stacked for back-side printing. The switchback section 5 similarly includes a nozzle 11, a chamber 12, and a pick belt 13.
Sucking and blowing of air at the main hopper 1, the auxiliary hopper 7 and the switchback section 5 are performed by a blower 14. The blower 14 is connected with these units by a pipe 15. An air flow path switching device 16 is provided between the main hopper 1 and the auxiliary hopper 7, since these hoppers are not to be operated simultaneously. The air flow path switching device 16 serves to switch the flow of air as necessary, and stops air supply when neither the main hopper 1 nor the auxiliary hopper 7 is in use.
The construction of the air flow path switching device 16 will be described next with reference to FIG. 4.
Holes are provided on the sidewall of a cylinder 17. Holes 18, 19 are connected to a sucking inlet 20 and discharge outlet 21 of the blower 14, respectively, by the hose 15; holes 22, 23 are connected to the chamber 9 and the nozzle 8 of the main hopper 1, respectively, while holes 24, 25 are connected to a chamber 26 and a nozzle 27 of the auxiliary hopper 7.
A rotor 28 is disposed inside the cylinder 17 and, is rotated around the cylindrical axis by a (not shown) motor. In the rotor 28 recesses are formed on a flat surface 29 that extends in parallel to the cylindrical axis. By rotating the rotor 28 inside the cylinder 17 and stopping it at an appropriate position, an air flowing direction is determined; i.e., the main hopper and the auxiliary hopper can be switched. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which the air flow is switched to the auxiliary hopper 7.
A positional relation between the cylinder 17 and the rotor 28 is shown in FIG. 5 when neither the main hopper 1 nor the auxiliary hopper 7 are supplied with air (in a neutral condition). Accordingly, the neutral condition is employed to avoid supplying air to the main or auxiliary hopper, when air is unnecessary. Therefore, in the case where the air is unnecessary, if the air is applied, to the main or auxiliary hopper during the neutral condition, the sheet existing in the hopper may be damaged, i.e. the sheet may be rolled up, curled up or the like. The neutral condition is designed to In the rotor 28 another recess is formed on a flat surface 30 that is parallel to the flat surface 29, the rotor 28 being positioned such that the flat surface 30 confronts the holes 18, 19 (a neutral position). In this position, the air discharged from the discharge outlet 21 of the blower 14 enters the cylinder 17 from the hole 19, passes through the hole 18, and returns to the sucking inlet, 20 of the blower 14, thereby flowing neither through the main hopper 1 nor the auxiliary hopper 7.
However, in such conventional assemblies, in which the discharge outlet 21 and the sucking inlet 20 of the blower 14 are connected inside the cylinder 17, the air is directed to flow through the cylinder 17 during the neutral condition. As a result, the air pressure at the switchback section 5 in the neutral condition becomes less than that in the non-neutral condition. Conversely, as shown in FIG. 6, the structure in which the holes 18, 19 are closed by the rotor 28 in the neutral condition allows air to flow only to the switchback section 5, thereby making the air pressure at the switchback section 5 greater in the neutral condition than in the nonneutral condition.
These fluctuations of the air pressure cause defective sheet forwarding at the switchback section 5, thereby greatly impairing the reliability of the printer.